Silver Dollar Philosophy
by Heroicagal
Summary: "You don't have to be involved in this you know." Stark told Matt with what he hoped sounded like sympathy. Matt simply tossed him something that reflected in the dim lighting. "A silver dollar?" He asked as he caught it. "Guess that makes it thrity-one silver pieces you have now." Matt and Daredevil are part of Civil War as he tries to keep his secret and defend others like him.
1. Politics is gettin' Foggy

"It's insane." Foggy growled as he looked at his computer screen.

"What are you watching Foggy?" Karen asked, curious as to what had him so riled up.

"Anthony Stark pretending he knows anything about politics." He frowned and turned the screen over so she could see and turned up the volume.

"I've said before that I've lived in an age that held people with little accountability and I emphasize that again. This past experience with the Ultron machination and the devastation that was caused by my own scuffle with a fellow Avenger has brought this to the forefront of my mind and completely convinced me that the Registration Act is not only more than fair, but necessary. If the people of the United States are given free and equal access to the information regarding their protectors they will be more likely to not only trust them, but be prepared for when something _will_ eventually go wrong. The Act is necessary in securing the safety of the American public." Matt chose that moment to walk into the office, stumbling in after a particularly long night.

"Whoa, buddy! Easy." Foggy got up to right his friend as he came in exhausted and slightly bruised.

"Matt, how clumsy do you need to be before you take our advice and get a dog?" Karen scolded him while trying to mask her worry. Matt waved away her concern good-naturedly.

"—and as for those who keep their identity a secret and still want to be a part of this world I say it's time to stop hiding. You want people's trust? You really want to make a difference? Take off the mask. It's done wonders for me." Stark concluded amidst thunderous applause while Matt frowned.

"What were you watching Foggy?" Matt asked, clearly wanting context to the statement he'd just heard. "Iron Man of all people chewing out the hero community, lecturing on culpability and trust. Tony freaking Stark lecturing other heroes on how to be their best when that whole Ultron fiasco. I can't believe the nerve of that guy." He huffed as he exited the online clip.

"The Registration Act again?" Matt sighed and Karen responded her affirmative before a heavy silence fell over the room.

"He can't seriously expect people to just waltz into the limelight can he?" Karen questioned after a few minutes of the dense quiet.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, what about people like Daredevil? Fisk went after me for accidentally reading a file; can you imagine what he'd do to his family if he knew who he was? Or the other guys like him?" Foggy's heartbeat raced and Matt's own countenance darkened as he could practically feel the fear radiating off of his friend and the worry too. Worry for his friends and a slight tinge of worry for himself. As selfless as Foggy was, he was human still and the idea of being a target of Matt's enemies spooked him all the same.

"I don't want to." Matt stated truthfully. Foggy shifted his weight a little and then decided to get rid of their worries by stating that they needed to review the simple case they had now involving a lease squabble between a tenant and landlord. It was dull work but it was a distraction from the troublesome thoughts all the same.

* * *

They were on their way to lunch the next day when they had the unfortunate luck to run into a news crew taking random opinions off the street on the Registration Act. A reporter ran up to them and stuck a camera in their faces before they knew what hit them.

"Excuse me sirs." The young woman said and directed the camera to face towards them. Matt and Foggy stopped discussing the details of their soon to be settled legal dispute and turned to face the woman. "We're conducting a poll of the average citizens of New York and doing a segment on Hell's Kitchen where so much of the damage left by the Battle for New York has yet to be fixed and even led to the rise of the Kingpin, Wilson Fisk. With this in mind, what do you have to say about the Registration Act?" Matt wasn't sure how to respond to the question tactfully but Foggy dove in feet first and impulsive, very much passionate when it came to the safety of his best friend and partner.

"My partner and I, as practitioners of the law, feel as though it is a gross violation of these individuals' civil rights as well as civil liberties." He hotly replied and Matt groaned internally as the reporter perked, obviously seeing fresh meat and conflicting viewpoints with which to plaster over the airs and start debates with, no doubt increasing network ratings as well.

"How so Mister…?" She trailed off and Matt decided that he needed to save his partner from sinking entirely.

"This is Franklin Nelson, and I'm Matthew Murdock. We practice law here in Hell's Kitchen but what my partner was trying to say was that not only does this violate an individual's right to privacy as established by the Fourth and Ninth Amendments, but it violates a Supreme Court decision already made regarding these unique individuals' actions as specially protected due to their service to their communities as decided in 'Cage v. New York'*. According to the Chief Justice, vigilantes and so called "superheroes" cannot be compelled to bring forth their identities unless they are truly determined to be a menace to the innocent public. The attacks that have been brought upon Mr. Cage's family by one Norman Osborn show why the leak of an identity of these individuals under duress can cause not only said individuals effectiveness to decrease as they have to divide their time between protecting their loved ones and the general public, but also prove that innocent people suffer as well when all the secrets these people harbor are brought out into the light." With that he grabbed his partner and dragged him down the street and down to lunch, not knowing how much his statement was going to intertwine him and his friends in the upcoming battle between Stark and Captain America.

* * *

"I wish we'd never have bothered answering that question." Foggy moaned as he took in yet another stack of letters, half of which berated their intelligence in the matter of the Registration Act as the other half agreed with their sentiments. Over the last few months they'd somehow become emblems of a resistance to the Registration Act and chief supporters of Avengers and vigilantes alike all over the country, a rallying call to those in the populous who were loyal to their heroes and people in general who feared that once the government got done micromanaging the superheroes they'd move onto the ordinary and everyday people.  
"I didn't want to Foggy. You had to run your big mouth." Matt scolded as he skimmed through the notes for another one of their cases. "There's no such thing as bad publicity" had proven true in their pool of cliental as everyone seemed to want a piece of Nelson and Murdock now that they were so well known. They stuck by their virtue of helping the truly innocent but the continual influx of clients and the rate at which they continued to win their cases had established them as quite formidable legal foes.

"Guys, you need to hear this." Karen called them over to her own computer (business had been good and she could afford a laptop now) and they gathered around to see what she was worked up about.

"—Act has been passed with a majority of the Senate and House. Now only the president needs to sign it and it will become the law of the United States of America. All those who have unique abilities or decide to pursue any type of career in law enforcement without a badge must register with the government. I myself was the first one to go through the procedure and look: I'm still standing here today with my lovely partner Miss Potts still fully intact and running my company. Nobody has taken retribution against the people I care about in anyway and the officials in DC have even offered to give her special protection if needed from the criminal elements. Nobody should fear this registration. And about those who do you have to wonder, what are they hiding?" Karen stopped the playback and Foggy's face fell while Matt tried to control the rage coursing through him at the idiocy and audacity of Stark. He was the spokesman for the campaign so of course his loved ones were going to be well protected. He heard Foggy's unsteady breathing and fast but comfortingly familiar and resonant heartbeat, smelled Karen's warm aroma that wafted in every room as her scent lingered in her perfume. He remembered Claire patching him up tenderly and the feeling of her battered body after the Russians had had their way with her. He considered the gentle guidance of Father Lathom and remembered Ben Ulrich's body cold and in the grave. Would the government really protect his family when they couldn't be bothered with his city? He didn't believe it for a second.

"If the law is passed, the people who don't register are considered 'rogues' and made known as public enemies. The police will be required to go after them and from there the newly reformed SHEILD will collect them and imprison them without trials and the tag of 'domestic terrorist'. What kind of a sick law is this?!" Foggy read the article and was visibly and audibly disgusted and Matt heard his heartrate change from nervous to all out full of rage like himself.

"Something tells me it's only going to get worse from here." Matt told his two friends. He had picked up on the direct rebuttal of one of the strongest arguments that they had given in their interview and he knew that they were on the radar of at least Tony Stark if not SHEILD itself and they would have to watch their next steps very, very carefully if they were going to navigate these waters without being pulled under both in and out of the mask. Things were definitely going to change around them and they had better adapt quickly or they'd be blood in the water for much bigger sharks.

 _ ***This case is completely made up (not canonical) but I wanted Matt to have more than just theoretical arguments to stand on when it came to the Bill of Rights. "Korematsu v. US", one of the most controversial and terrible rulings the Supreme Court has made in all of history, determined that the rights of individual groups of citizens could be ignored for the "greater good" and that is probably the perspective behind which this law would be introduced and supported. I wanted Matt to have an actual case that could be used to contradict that precedence especially in deference to vigilantes. I apologize if any of this is complete and utter baloney when it comes to the lawyering part. In the spirit of Leonard McCoy I'll claim "I'm a writer, not a lawyer" and therefore am by no means an expert in the law. I've just read a couple of stories where Nelson and Murdock either defends the Winter Soldier or becomes as safe house for rebelling heroes in the Civil War and I wanted to try my own spin on it. The other Avengers (and possibly a webhead) will be making an appearance as well and of course so will Daredevil. This is just a frolic through a "What if?" scenario regarding "Civil War" and it isn't really planned out so we'll see where the muse takes us. Hope you enjoyed it.**_


	2. It was a bad night

Matt, well Matt wasn't sure how this had happened. One moment he was coming home from a long day in the office and getting ready to set out for the night and the next he was face to face with a gun in his apartment and a very tense man on the end of it. How he didn't know the man was there before hand was a rookie mistake; he was too distracted to focus on seeing if anybody was in his apartment. The Registration Act had been passed and the vigilantes and heroes of the country alike had been given two weeks to register before being classified as rogues. Matt had been working through his sneakiest routes of getting around the city and around cops when he had opened the door only to be confronted by the man with a loaded and ready firearm and prosthetic unlike anything Matt had ever encountered.

"Easy." Matt said as he slowly lifted his hands. The man inspected him for a moment before he decided that a blind man probably wasn't a threat (what often proved to be a fatalistic error when dealing with one Matthew Murdock). But to be sure he surged forward and searched him for weapons or anything else that might interfere with him getting what he desired. When he came up with nothing but his phone, he was satisfied and dropped the weapon. Matt took that moment to start in on the man, who was surprised only for a moment before some seriously ingrained training kicked in and the two were in an all-out brawl. Eventually the guy got a glancing blow in with his prosthetic and Matt's ears rang as metal connected with the side of his head and he was pinned to the ground, gun now nuzzled into his temple.

"This doesn't have to be hard." The man who had him pinned hissed. Matt could hear his heart beating and it wasn't only in exertion but also fear. Why was this man afraid? Matt wasn't the one with the gun. "I don't want to hurt anyone else." He tacked on and Matt knew he was telling the truth. Before Matt could reply and ask why he was even in his home his phone started to ring.  
" _Foggy. Foggy. Foggy_." The electronic voice called out annoyingly. The man's attention turned from Matt to the phone ringing insistently and obnoxiously.

"You're going to want to let me answer that." Matt told him honestly. Foggy had made Matt promise to call him when he got home and before he went out to "Daredevil" so he could inform him of his pattern for that night and know where to expect him should he need any help. Of course Foggy knew that Matt would have to be on death's door or quite possibly worse before he'd ever call him in but it made his friend feel better to know what he'd be doing that night and put to ease some of his anxiousness that had now doubled due to the recent law that was passed. "He really doesn't like to be kept waiting."

The intruder didn't seem to care and instead simply switched the phone to silence. Why he didn't just crush it or something Matt didn't know but he supposed that a civilized home invader was better than an uncivilized one.

"What do you want from me?" Matt tried to shift the conversation seeing as how he knew that his Foggy privileges were suspended for the time being.

"I don't want anything from you. This place was supposed to be empty. It is most of the nights." Why his intruder knew his schedule was beyond him and he tried not to think too hard on it, hoping he didn't have a stalker.

"Why are you here then?"

"Tired. Needed a place to rest." He supplied frankly and again Matt could tell that he wasn't lying to him.

"Why don't you go home then?" Matt tried to reason and the man chuckled dryly.

"Don't have one."

"So you wanted to steal mine?"

"Borrow." The man countered and Matt was actually taken aback.

"Pardon?" He asked and raised an eyebrow, still pinned beneath this man's bulk and trying to figure out a way to get the gun off of his temple.

"Needed to borrow a place. Usually empty most of the night so I figured I'd use it for a bit then move on. Can't stay in one place, they'll find me." Now they were getting somewhere.  
"Who?" The man shook his head.

"Said too much already. Done with involving anybody else in my messes. Done with terrorizing civilians. Done with being a weapon." His voice grew more deadly as he listed off his offenses and Matt finally found solid ground.

"Don't you think the gun pointed at my head could be at least a bit terrorizing?" He deadpanned and the man snorted and lowered his piece.

"Needed you to behave."

"You could've asked nicely." Matt said lightly and the man got off of him so he could stand up. "Thank you." He said as he straightened his jacket. The man tilted his head and gazed around the room, looking for the best possible way to exit without risking Matt having the opportunity to call the police on him.

"I'm leaving now. I'll find someplace else. Nobody else is getting caught in the crossfire. I'll do whatever it takes to make sure of that." He started to go and Matt took a step towards him to which he again raised his weapon and again cocked it. "Stay put."

"You said you didn't want to hurt me or anybody else and I believe you. My name is Matthew Murdock and I'm an attorney. If you're in trouble I can help you." He offered and he was unsure of what made him do it besides the fact that this guy seemed to be genuinely afraid of Matt even though he was unarmed and blind. He was disoriented, confused, and more than likely psychologically troubled. He had the gait of a soldier and the prosthetic that announced he'd seen battle and more than likely had a heap of PTSD to go with his experiences and Matt felt the overwhelming urge to help this man who was lost without a friend and desperate enough to stay lost.

"No. Nobody else is a part of this. Stark's got everyone on this and won't rest 'til he's got me and I'm not taking anyone down with me." He paused for a moment. "And I owe that man a pound of flesh anyways." He added darkly. With that he stepped out the door and took off down the hall. Matt made chase but jumped back as he took a pot shot at him, far enough in front of him that there was no real danger but enough to make Matt pause long enough to lose him. What the whole episode was about… He had no idea but he was determined to find out as soon as possible. What did Tony Stark have to do with the veteran who'd invaded his home? He was going to get answers and soon.

* * *

"Matt what were you doing last night?" Foggy demanded as soon as he got into the office. Karen was out sick for the day (the political strife that had shocked the nation and the overwhelming caseloads they'd had had taken its toll).

"Nothing much Foggy. Went home and then out on my routes like usual." It was true enough. Foggy didn't need to know about last night's altercations.

"And why didn't you answer when I called you? You promised that you'd stop doing that Matt." Foggy sounded disappointed and Matt could imagine the scowl on his face. He had promised shortly after Fisk had been put behind bars and he'd reluctantly agreed to allow Foggy to have more access to his nightly activities. That didn't stop Matt from trying to keep most of what occurred on the down low. This wasn't Foggy's fight and his friend just had too good a heart to hear about some of the things that Matt encountered. Same thing went for Karen. She had yet to be brought in on the secret but Matt had no doubt that he'd be telling her soon, just in case things went south and she needed to understand why he'd suddenly taken up a life on the lamb if it came to that. He hoped it didn't but he wasn't too sure at this point.

"Sorry Foggy. I got distracted. Promise it won't happen again." He'd make sure to be more careful going into his house from now on. His friend, however, just snorted in disbelief and no doubt rolled his eyes but he let it go, seeing Matt wasn't going to be talking to him anytime soon about it.

"Well while you were out doing your daring do's last night we got a call from an anonymous source asking us for a meeting today." That wasn't ominous at all.

"And you told them no right?" Matt didn't like where this was headed.

"Matt, the guy said he was a suit in need of our help. What was I supposed to do? Tell him to go elsewhere and find other lawyers stupid enough to harbor fugitives from the federal government?" Foggy countered and Matt groaned internally at his friend's too good nature. His self- preservation instincts took a sharp dive towards non-existent where anything that reminded him of Matt resided and while Matt was grateful for the support, he was worried for his friend's safety. One of these days he'd get played and Matt might not be there to get him out of the fire. They'd have to work on that.

"Fine. When are they stopping by?" He could hear Foggy's facial muscles tighten and smell a bit of sweat start to bead on his brow.

"Five minutes?" He said sheepishly and ducked a bit under Matt's scowl but was secretly reveling in his victory. Never let it be said that his firm turned anybody who needed their help and deserved it away.

* * *

Five minutes came and went, then ten, then twenty, and so on until an hour had gone by.

"Alright Foggy. This had to have been a prank call or somebody's trying to rile us up." Matt decided as finally. Foggy was about to argue when Matt heard the thudding of feet up their stairs. The steps were lumbering and the person they belonged to was obviously muscular and incredibly strong. His heart pumped his blood so fast and so strong Matt could almost hear it surging through his body. Finally the man reached their door and knocked sharply three times. Foggy jolted slightly and looked to Matt who simply lifted an eyebrow so he went over to the door and cautiously opened it for their mystery client.

"Are you Mr. Nelson and Mr. Murdock?" A voice asked that Foggy and even Matt would recognize from anywhere.

"Uh…" Foggy tactfully answered.

"May I come in? A friend of mine has landed in a spot of legal trouble and I figured that you gentlemen may be able to help him." Captain America requested. Matt could hear Foggy's heart thundering almost as loudly as their guest's.

"Please come in Captain." Matt addressed him. "And start from the beginning."


	3. Stand back, it's not over yet

"That's the story gentlemen." Captain America finished and both of the lawyers had to sit for a moment to process this. After nudging the Captain in the right direction of the telling them the whole truth uncensored (and after a desperate super soldier finally gave in), they were stunned by what they'd learned. Both Foggy and Matt knew the story, they had seen the news at the time the chaos occurred, but what they didn't know was this side of things. The Winter Soldier was who Captain America had come and asked them to defend. The Winter Soldier who was apparently a lot less of a terrorist than they'd been led to believe and more like a tortured veteran who'd been brainwashed into betraying his country by the group Hydra. A lot of things went on in Hell's Kitchen, plenty of it bad. This reached a whole new and bizarre level of depravity even for this part of town. "Will you help him?" He asked and his big baby blues were dripping with sincerity to the point where Foggy had to look elsewhere when he asked if he could conference with Matt for a moment.

"What do you think Matt?" He asked his partner with a slight amount of trepidation. This was, after all, a man who had blown up parts of downtown DC and helped dismantled SHIELD, brainwashing or no. That made him a very dangerous client to have both socially and quite literally physically.

"You're the one who demanded that we have this meeting with a mysterious voice on the phone. What's your take on this?" Matt shot right back. He already knew what he wanted their course of action to be but he wanted to make sure that his friend was on board. Foggy paused for a moment to collect his thoughts before answering.  
"This guy attacked DC and brought down SHEILD." He started slowly.

"Yes." Matt agreed.

"And he also has spent the last few decades as an assassin."

"Also true."

"…But he's been through the ringer and he needs our help. From the way Cap over there spins it nobody would be crazy enough to even consider this case but us and I refuse to let this guy go to trial without representation. He's been through enough, don't you think?" Foggy relented with a sigh and Matt grinned proudly at his friend's unending pursuit for justice.

"I couldn't agree more." He said sincerely and they turned to face the eager Captain America who probably had heard everything they said due to his own heightened senses but was too well-mannered to admit he'd eavesdropped.

"Alright Captain, we'll take Sergeant Barnes' case." Matt announced and the man smiled gratefully at him.

"Thank you Mr. Murdock, Mr. Nelson. And please, call me Steve." He extended his hand in way of greeting and Foggy shook it hesitantly (not because he was reluctant but because this was _Captain America_ and he wanted to be on first name basis!).  
"Then you can call us Matt and Foggy." Matt replied to the Captain and smirked as the man stopped himself abruptly as he moved to offer him his hand and then realized it was probably futile (at least from his limited knowledge of Matt's true capabilities). Matt took pity on the man and extended his own hand for him to shake and the deal was sealed. "And there's no need to thank us. We're just as interested as you are in seeing justice done for your friend."

* * *

"You guys accepted the case? Are you - _achoo_ —nuts?!" Karen sneezed over the phone as they brought her in on their new client.

"Karen this guy needs somebody who will represent him." Foggy countered.

"And you have to be the ones to do it?" She sniffled.

"Yes. Who else will?" Foggy asked quite seriously. They heard a long suffering sigh.  
"Fine. Fine. If you guys think it's the right way to go." She then mumbled something about the stupid heroics of her bosses and Foggy gave Matt a sneaky smile. "But I hope you're prepared to deal with the fallout. We're entering a warzone by doing this." She told them seriously and Foggy's smile left his face.

"Karen, we're living in a warzone already." Matt quietly offered and it was true. They had exactly one week and six days before the Registration Act took full effect and Matt knew things would only get harder from there. He had no intention of registering his identity with the authorities because he knew from experience that no organization was entirely clean and if the wrong people got their hands on who he was, Matt wouldn't be the one to pay the consequences, but his family would.

"Speaking of the case we have about twenty minutes to get our butts to an interview room before charges are pressed against our new client. Cap's gonna meet us there with a friend." Foggy told Karen.

"You're kidding me. You and Captain America are best buddies now? Miss one day at the office and everything goes to chaos." Karen replied and joked.

"It's not a big deal really, he just inquired as to whether we'd represent his friend and we're also looking to have him appointed his legal guardian." Matt said.  
"The guy's over seventy years old Matt. Why does he need a guardian again?" Karen responded.

"Mentally incapable of making his own decisions due to psychological trauma. In this case he has no family to assume guardianship over him so we're arguing Captain Rogers can be appointed to better protect his interests. That also gives him the power to choose us to represent Sergeant Barnes." Matt told her. "There's no way anyone can argue against this."

* * *

Upon arriving at the interview room they were thoroughly searched and even had to have wands waved over them to make sure that they weren't carrying anything that could help their client escape.

"You'd think they'd trust such loveable guys like us." Foggy joked after they were cleared to enter.

"They have to be thorough or they aren't doing their job correctly." Matt told his partner. Stepping inside the room they were greeted with the sight of cuffed Winter Soldier, Captain America, and his friend and fellow Avenger Falcon or Sam Wilson.

"These are the men I told you about. They're going to help you." Steve assured Sergeant Barnes who looked up from under a mop of hair at the two entering lawyers. He narrowed his eyes for a second and then guffawed. It startled everyone but Matt.

"Well, you sure are tenacious, I'll give you that." Bucky told Matt after a moment.

"Hello again Sergeant Barnes." Matt cordially greeted.

"Hold up, you've met him before?" Sam Wilson questioned as Foggy seemed about ready to do the same.  
"We've bumped into each other, yes." Matt affirmed and Bucky gave a sly grin. He liked this guy.  
"I'm told you're in a bit of a bind." Foggy tried to get the ball rolling.  
"That's an understatement. This guy's being laid out like a sacrificial offering in Stark's new never ending pursuit for justice. Starting with the man who he believes assassinated his parents." Sam told them and jutted his thumb to indicate the incapacitated veteran.  
"And since when does Mister Stark have to power to arrest anybody, let alone bring charges?" Matt queried.

"Since he was appointed the new director of SHEILD." A voice filtered through the doorway and Matt heard the sharp staccato of stiletto boots on the ground. The woman to whom they belonged had the bearing of a soldier and her breathing and heartbeat were strong and steady. A woman completely composed and in charge. His friend besides him however, was lacking and losing some of that composure. "If I could give you boys one word of advice it'd be to run while you still have the chance." She informed Matt and Foggy.

"Natasha." Steve said and his voice dripped with an icy coldness.

"Captain." She responded in the same.

"As in Black Widow?" Foggy breathed and the woman inclined her head.

"The very same."

"Here on Stark's behalf?" Sam crossed his arms and glared at the fiery redhead.

"Here on behalf of these two gentlemen who you're about to drag into a war they don't need to be a part of. Take my advice kiddos. Scram. Stark's out for blood and he'll eat you alive." Natasha said as she eyed the two lawyers.

"We appreciate your concern but we don't see how our cliental is any of your business Miss Romanov." Matt cordially replied whilst firmly moving his unseeing eyes in her direction, an old trick he'd learned would spook most anybody they went up against in court. But this wasn't court and Natasha Romanov never scared easily.

"That is, of course, your choice counselor." She glared right at him and Foggy coughed to clear the tension.

"Right, so are you going to charge our client or is he going to be free to walk?"

There was a deep throated chuckle from Bucky.

"Stark's not going to let that happen." He muttered and shook his head ever so slightly. "She's right. You should abandon ship while you've got the chance. You too Stevie. And your friend as well."

"Sorry. No can do, I'm with you 'til the end of line." Steve replied and there was a flash of hurt in Sergeant Barnes' eyes but all he did was frown and look away.

"Charges no longer need to be filed within twenty-four hours, counselor. We have the right to hold your client for the foreseeable future until he is deemed a non-threat to the public." Natasha deadpanned to them.

"So due-process goes out the window?" Matt scowled at her but she remained unmoved.

"According to the Registration Act when any unregistered super powered individual becomes a domestic terrorist, then yes."

"You know that this is wrong Natasha. This isn't what we stand for." Captain America addressed Black Widow who calmly turned to her upset friend.

"I don't know what you stand for, Captain Rogers, but I stand for accountability and transparency as well. Tony Stark seems to agree on that with me. I'm tired of people hiding in the shadows and having their merry way with innocent, good people."

"Like HYDRA did with Sergeant Barnes?" Foggy indicated their client with a wave of his hand.

"We have all made mistakes, Mr. Nelson. But eventually we've got to own up to them. I'm paying my penance. Sergeant Barnes needs to do the same." With that she stepped out the door and closed it behind her with a loud noise.

"Uh, Cap—Steve? Any reason the Black Widow just gave us the third degree?" Foggy croaked.

"She and Stark see more eye-to-eye on the Registration Act than I do. It's caused shall we say, complications, in our relationship." Steve tactfully relayed.

"And that relationship would be…" Matt offered.

"Complicated as well." Steve closed down the discussion.

"Alright, now that the drama's unfolded, let's see what we can do for Sergeant Barnes."

It was two hours later (and lots of emotionally charged discussion), they had what they assumed might be a battle plan when the door burst open again, this time with a bang and a squadron of soldiers accompanying their next visitor.

"Safeties off!" One of the soldiers instructed and they were all faced with loaded guns. Foggy's heartbeat pounded like a drum and Matt quietly maneuvered his chair so he was sitting in front of his friend and a majority of the weapons with Rogers did the same with Barnes.

"Is there any way we can help you gentlemen?" Steve glared at the SHIELD agents who shifted slightly under the Captain's gaze of disappointment.  
"Prisoner transfer Captain." The lead agent told him with little bravado.

"On who's authority? This man hasn't even been charged." Matt piped up and for the first time him and Foggy were noticed.

"Mine." Came a very confident reply and there was the sound of mechanisms whirring and heavy footfalls that thudded on the hard ground. "Acting Director Stark of the newly reformed Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division or SHEILD as you probably knew it." Tony Stark in his Iron Man suit stepped in and the soldiers lowered their weapons and saluted.

"As you were gentlemen." And the weapons returned to Bucky's direction.

"Stark." Captain America greeted harshly.

"Capsicle. Birdboy." He greeted his former fellow Avengers. "You two are new." He addressed Foggy and Matt.

"We're Sergeant Barnes' lawyers." Matt held out his hand which Tony eyed for a moment then shook while studying their faces.

"Hold on, are you those guys from the news?" He chuckled. "Man Cap, you must be desperate to hire these two ambulance chasers. You think they meant a word of what they said? How much better has business gotten for you since you made that statement? I'll bet you have clients out the wazoo now. Do yourselves a favor, gents, drop this case and get back to suing over mop spills. It'll be better for everyone."

"It almost sounds as though you're worried about what we can do Mister Stark." Matt innocently stated. Tony's mood went sour.  
"I don't like people who use others' misfortune to make a quick buck. I did some research on you guys after your statement went public. You don't have any cases and you're practice has barely taken off. How well are you guys off now, huh?"

"I think that you're reacting from emotion and not objectivity right now Mr. Stark. Perhaps you need a moment to calm down before we proceed?" Matt suggested thoughtfully but Tony was having none of it.

"There's nothing to discuss. James Barnes, AKA the Winter Soldier is now arrested and in SHEILD's custody. So sorry, but the good Captain has wasted your time." With that Bucky was restrained and led away and there wasn't much anybody could do. Steve went to make a move but Falcon held him back.

"Not the right time Steve. We gotta do this the right way." Sam murmured to him. Steve took a few deep breaths and then went up straight up to Tony.

"This is wrong and you know it. This isn't how things are done; there's a process." He hissed at him. "People have rights—"

"Which can be suspended for the sake of maintaining order, peace, and safety in times of war Captain." Tony levelheadedly answered back.

"You want to make this a war Stark?" Steve challenged. Stark's gaze faltered a bit.

"No, Steve. No I don't but that's up to you. I hope you'll do the right thing and register while you've still got the chance. As for Sergeant Barnes, he has to face justice for what he's done. Like you said. There's a process to this all and that involves paying the devil his due." Tony addressed the two lawyers next. "I suggest you make yourselves scarce gentlemen. Your work here is done." After a moment he turned back to Falcon. "You as well Sam. Make the right decision and register while you've still got that option. You're a good man and I'd hate to have to bring you in." With that he left the room, still in his armor, and went to catch up with his many agents.

"They can't get away with this." Foggy desperately said after a moment. "I mean, they can't just—"

"Stark's convinced he's doing the right thing. That he's protecting the public. That's what it's really about when you get down to it, isn't it? The public. I say it's about time we use them to our advantage and let people know what's really going on." Matt determined.

"They already know Matt. It's all over the news." Foggy relayed. "I just read out the specifics of the law a day or two ago."

"Then let's get people actually talking about it. Make some waves, go public with our desire to represent Sergeant Barnes. We need to get people listening like we did with Fisk and Karen did with Union Allied." Matt countered and Captain America frowned for a moment.

"You think appealing to the people will work?"

"It'll put pressure on Stark and that's what he's trying to avoid. I think it's time he paid his own devil a little bit of what he's due." Matt smirked and Foggy quietly sighed beside him, knowing that there was no point in arguing.

"These guys could really do us some good Cap. We could do with a few Regular Joe's on our side." Sam agreed with Matt's idea. Captain America relented.

"Alright. We'll try the press and hope the public's more merciful than Tony." It was a Hail Mary if there ever was one but that's all they could do as Matthew Murdock and Franklin Nelson. Daredevil however? Daredevil would be looking into this with furor. He needed to ensure his own future as much as he wanted to secure Sergeant Barnes'.


	4. I can make it on my own Natasha

"Get home as soon as you can Matt." Foggy ordered him over the phone before he went out for the night. "I'm serious. Just a patrol and then come right home. No big baddies tonight."

"Do I look like I'm one to go searching out supervillains?" Matt innocently queried and he could hear his friend huff in exasperation.

"With all that's going on and half the hero population going AWOL, I don't see why you wouldn't. You seem to have a complex where you think everybody else's messes are yours to clean up."

"Says the guy who all but dragged the unknown cape into our office for legal counsel." Matt countered as he started to don his suit.

"Who turned out to be Captain America which makes your argument invalid." Foggy shot right back.  
"Alright, you win. No going up against Doombots or Loki tonight." Matt grinned as he put on his mask.

"No major drug dealers either, unless you run into them. You need to lay low for a bit and taking down a crime boss won't help with that."

"Yes _mom_." Matt then hung up the phone on his indignant, sputtering legal partner and laughed softly to himself. Leave it to Foggy to make this situation all the more bearable. One week, five days until the deadline happened for registering and with each day that passed, the more anxious Matt got. One of the parts of the program was that convicts with powers who agreed to register were being deployed as parts of the teams they assembled. Often, they ended up in the role of "Cape Hunter" as the media had dubbed them, sniffing out and bringing in super powered or highly gifted individuals, regardless of who they had once been or done for the community. Their unfortunate client, Sergeant Barnes, was the first in long line of many. Including Daredevil. Stark seemed to have a vested interest in taking down Spider-man, Daredevil, and a lunatic called the Punisher who Matt himself had been trying to track before this whole mess.

What worried him was what methods the Cape Hunters might use. They were told to bring them in by any means necessary, and all people who associated with vigilantes who didn't register were to be held by guilt of association. Bring those two facts together and that gave the perfect excuse to dangle friends and family as bait. One criminal used to catch another, who would care?

Matt cared. That's why he was so adamantly opposed to this legislation. Not just a breach of privacy, but what about the fact that when the government had control of all the "gifted" population and sent them out in attack teams, what would happen to those who weren't a part of the bigger picture? Hell's Kitchen had been allowed to breed because of the destruction wrought by government sanctioned superhero violence. The people had been left to fend for themselves while crime rotted away at the very foundation of their homes. They were neglected, and they would be again with this new bill. People like himself or Spider-man would be unable to operate at a local level and the people who counted on them would suffer for it. Matt wouldn't allow that. So he continued the way he always had, with a little bit of respect for the law but more interest in seeing justice done. You can't always legislate morality after all.

* * *

Out on patrol, nothing much was going on. He stopped a would be purse snatcher, a small time shoplifter, and someone from trying to rip off an ATM. Small potatoes, exactly what Foggy was hoping for and to be honest, exactly what Matt was. It meant that less people would be being brutalized and that was the goal of the suit in the first place.

That was, until he heard the shrill scream of a woman under attack. He sped towards the noise, ready as always to defend those who needed his help. Two men had cornered a young woman. But something seemed off about the situation. Her heartbeat didn't match that of a terrified individual, but was instead a steady and calm beat. Not only that, but it was vaguely familiar. In a second the men had turned their attention from the woman they cornered to himself, their weapons actually stun guns. It was a trap, and he'd fallen for it. The two mounted an attack his way, and Matt easily countered them. He let one billy club whack the taller one across the face as he roundhouse kicked the second in the gut. That man was down and huffing, and he was sure Matt had heard few of his ribs jostle from the impact. The taller one's teeth clacked together harshly from the club hitting its target. He swiftly kicked the stun gun of the small one out of the way, while the tall one staggered. Rounding on the tall one, he swiftly wrenched his arm and he dropped the weapon out of his grasp. With a shove against the brick wall, the tall one was out and the short one quickly was put unconscious with a hard kick to the jaw. The young woman sat there quietly during the entire exchange, calculating, looking on with little emotion. He caught a lingering scent of leather, spandex, and spice and then he remembered who she was.

"Out for a run Miss Romanov?" He rasped in an attempt to hide his voice, as well as a small amount of exertion coloring his tone.

"I was out fishing, Daredevil was it? You seem to know my name already, I was hoping I could convince you to tell me yours."

"If you're trying to recruit me for Stark's little task force, you're wasting your time. I'm not a soldier, and I don't march well to orders." Matt immediately shut down the discussion from progressing further.

"Neither did I, but somehow I manage. Times change, you need to learn to adapt." She continued conversationally.

"Not interested." He turned to leave the Black Widow in the dust.

"I'm assuming you wear that mask for a reason, are you a family man Daredevil?" Natasha stopped him in his steps and Daredevil whirled around.

"Just what are you implying Romanov?" His voice took on a steely tone. She huffed.

"I am _trying_ to help you. I've heard about what you do, who you help, who you've taken down. This city owes you but if you're not careful, things will go south and fast. Your identity is going to come out one way or the other, you're on Stark's pet project list, so you tell me. What are you willing to do for the people who that mask represents? You want this to become their war? Because the Cape Hunters, they don't care either way." During her speech Matt had heard another man approaching and prepared to defend himself as she thought she could distract him. Instead the man simply hopped down from the ledge of the roof above him and interposed himself between the Widow and her prey.

"Real moving speech Nat. Tell me, Stark have you rehearse it when at the same time he dressed you up to play bait? Nice shirt by the way, but Banner's been missing for a while now. I don't think you need to show so much skin." This man sounded familiar too. Matt had heard him on the news. "Tell me, when did you become Tony's Girl Friday?"

"Good to see you too Clint. I haven't heard from you since you threw your temper tantrum and stormed out like an unruly child." There was a bit of bite in her voice and it clicked in Matt's head. The mystery individual was none other than Clint Barton, or Hawkeye.

"Really? I thought that I was pretty calm, considering the circumstances. You did want me to sign off on my wife and kids becoming target practice for anybody who's got a grudge, or felt like making themselves famous for being the one to take down Hawkeye's family." Family man, that's what she'd said and it seemed that she was coming from a place of personal experience. "Not as though there aren't those nuts out there."

"Barton, you and I both know that there are safeguards against that. You think I'd actually let anything happen to them—"

"You wouldn't but who says you'll always be there to protect them? And who should I trust to, the convicts that you'll be working with? You've made a deal with the real devil and now you're trying to pull this poor sap in on it." Barton jutted a thumb his way.

"'This poor sap' has said this discussion is over. Now you, both of you get out of my city. I have real problems to deal with. Take your little war elsewhere, it doesn't belong in Hell's Kitchen." Once again Matt turned to leave, but Romanov delivered one final barb.

"Your boys don't seem to think so."

"What are you talking about?" Daredevil asked in exasperation.

"This was a trip with two goals. Going out of my way to suggest that you sign up before Stark sics his dogs on you, which he's quite eager to do, masked vigilantes get under his skin. The other was to ask you to talk to your buddies at Nelson and Murdock. They have no idea what they're getting into." Someone had connected Daredevil to his practice, and they didn't even know who he was. How long until they determined that Daredevil was, in fact, "blind Matt Murdock"? What would happen to Foggy and Karen?  
"Scare tactics Nat? Going after a guy's friends, you've really sunk that low?" Hawkeye was baffled. Natasha rolled her eyes.

"Don't be an idiot. Nobody's going to do anything to them, I was just trying to keep them from getting crucified publicly. Nobody else has made the connection yet and I'm certainly not going to tell them."

"And I should just trust you because you're doing this out of the goodness of your heart?" Daredevil was oozing sarcasm.

"No, I'm doing this to show you that we're on the same side. You just don't get it yet." The Widow nonchalantly responded. "You think what you're doing is the right thing, that it'll keep your friends and family safe, that you won't be held accountable for your actions if you can remain anonymous. But the country, not just Stark but the country, has grown tired of limitless, lawless swashbuckling. They understand the amount of people that've gotten hurt, the destruction that has happened, and they want accountability, safety. Can't say I blame them. Power left unchecked corrupts, and good people suffer for it."

"Do you have family Miss Romanov?" Matt simply asked and he heard her heartbeat spike for the first time in the conversation.

"Not anymore." She said simply, honestly. She saw no point in giving him ammunition in calling her a hypocrite when it came to transparency.

"Then I wouldn't expect you to understand. But it's more than that, and you know it. You've fooled yourself into thinking that the government can take care of everyone by registering and tracking 'capes' and 'vigilantes'. Tell me, did that help the people who were caught up in the struggle between the Hulk and Iron Man? What about the Battle of New York? You were under government control, SHEILD guidance then and do you know what happened after the invasion stopped? You went home to your ivory tower and men like Wilson Fisk were left to come crawling out of the dark and fill the power vacuum. That man killed so many innocent people, _good_ people. Where were you then?" There was no response to that. "If you couldn't be trusted to clean up your own mess then, why should things change now? This isn't Manhattan, or DC. The Avenger's Tower is a long way off. Teams will be deployed to deal with the big threats while the people down here are left to suffer. And I won't let that happen." Matt turned to leave for a final time. "You'd better keep your promise about leaving those at Nelson and Murdock out of this. It's not their war to fight, you're right about that. I won't condone aggression against bystanders in my city. Go near them, and what happened to your buddies here will look like a playdate. And thanks for the heads up on Stark, I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

Murdock then vaulted over the rooftops, taking note that he had a potential ally in Barton if need be. He seemed to at least understand Matt's motives, where he stood and why. That could be useful in the days to come. He decided that tonight's encounter was better to be kept to himself. No need to worry Foggy, he had enough on his plate trying to figure out how to defend Barnes anyways. He didn't need to added burden.

 **This chapter was a killer to write. I know Nat and Clint are on opposite sides in the upcoming movie, and I figured those two going head to head would have to have some nasty friction to ever actually work. Otherwise, they'd stick by each other's side. But, as Natasha brought up, Clint is a family man and his family has been a secret until now. He worked hard to keep it that way and he would oppose anything that could conflict with that. Part of her constant badgering of Matt is she sees a bit of Clint in him and she's hoping that if she can reign him in, that she can do the same with her dear friend. But we all know how stubborn those two are.**

 **I actually understand where Natasha comes from in backing Tony. Her own life was screwed up by people who had little accountability for their actions, and she sympathizes with others who might face the same, no matter who is held unaccountable. She understands power corrupts, and she wants to curb that. I feel it's naïve of Tony's side to actually believe that the government would be the best way to prevent abuse due to how often the system is misused in these movies (SHEILD especially), and I think that Matt would share that cynicism.**

 **The new trailer got me pumped for Civil War and my muse kicked in again. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Probably more Matt and Foggy next chapter with a sprinkle of Cap, and Clint might meet Matt's alter ego. We'll see.**

 **Happy reading, writing, and obsessing,**

 **Heroicagal**


	5. I am not a pawn, you can't make me fight

It had been too long since Matt had last gone to church. He'd been so busy running around trying to work on this Barnes case and patrol, along with figuring out contingency plans in case of his identity being uncovered that he hadn't been able to find the time. Not that he was trying to excuse anything as he walked into the cathedral that dark and dreary night. He just hoped that Father Lathom would understand.

As Matt walked in late that night it was silent as the grave. The wind outside was howling and the scent of rain was on the air. It was a wonderful night to stay indoors and most of the criminals had gotten the hint leaving some free time in Matt's schedule. One week four days. That was how long he had to either register or get branded a domestic terrorist. That's all the time he had left. A measly eleven days.

"You need to be extra careful Matt." Foggy had warned him as he went out that night. "Those cape hunters are wanting to get a jump on things and Stark has already announced his personal vendetta against masked vigilantes. You're prime pickings." Matt knew this of course. And he knew that if he was on the top of the list, if his name was made public knowledge his friends would be also. There were rumblings in the underground that Fisk was thinking about copping a deal to get out early and work as a Cape Hunter, never mind the fact that Bullseye had already signed on the dotted line gleefully. That was two heavy hitters who wanted Matt's head on a silver platter besides Stark.

Things weren't going any better in their case with Sergeant Barnes. They hadn't heard from him since he'd been carted away and while Matt was due in court tomorrow to hear about the sentencing of his client (and whether or not he would be allowed due process) no one on their legal team had high hopes. This left the option of a civil suit against Stark open. It was foolhardy to consider, but they were getting desperate. Very desperate.

Rogers was preparing for all-out war from the way he and Wilson talked during their meetings. They weren't going to go quietly into the night and there was a good portion of the heroes' community who felt the same way. They wanted a chance to give their piece, prove that they shouldn't be punished because of the mistakes of a few of their colleagues. But Stark and the media were relentless in calling them cowards, terrorists, criminals, and just about anything else that could scare the populace into at least regarding them warily.

So it was with a heavy heart that Matt walked into the chapel to meet with the priest and vent his frustrations. He was busy with another member of the congregation so Matt took a seat on one of the pews and breathed deeply until he could have his turn to have his say. He tried to clear his thoughts and meditate so he could calm his mind but it just kept racing. He had been twice as alert ever since his meeting with the Black Widow and he hadn't been able to come back down from his state of hyperawareness yet. Every little noise seemed to be a potential danger lying in wait for him to drop his guard. Every strange smell could be a stranger who was coming to deliver pain. Every touch could be someone reaching out to take him and leave his city defenseless. Nothing was innocuous anymore and with every passing hour he grew more and more wary.

"Thank you Father." He heard a heavily accented voice address Father Lantom.

"It is my pleasure Kurt. Know you are always welcome here." The priest addressed the young man whom he had been discussing with for the past half hour as Matt had sat and tried to tune them out. There was something strange about him that didn't know how to classify. It could be the lingering scent of sulfur that he carried, or it might be the strange way the air moved about him and blurred his features from Matt's senses making him out to be fuzzy. Whatever the case, Matt recognized him from a few visits but he had rarely ever talked to him.

"Ah Matthew. It has been far too long since we had last had one of our little chats." Father Lantom said as he and this Kurt walked over.

"I'm sorry Father. I've been rather busy as of late." Matt responded honestly and felt the gaze of the young man accompanying Father Lantom on him.

"Ah, you are the Matthew that the good Father has spoken of." Kurt said with a small smile in his tone. "A noble lawyer. It is true then when they say God works in mysterious ways." His accent was more pronounced now that he directly addressed Matt. It was definitely European and if he had to guess, Germany was more than likely where this man was born.

"I wasn't aware Father Lantom felt the need to share about me." Matt put in almost accusingly, knowing full well that what was said in a Confessional was meant to be sacred both legally and religiously. Only the priest, the confessor, and God were to be party to any of those discussions.

"Yes well, Kurt likes to ask about the members of the congregation he sees here. I often tell him what they do in their spare time."

"Yes, do not blame Father Lantom _mein Freund_. I am incorrigibly curious and I did ask if there was anyone in our flock who might be willing to lend some friends of mine aid in the days to come. This country is headed down a dark path and I have no wish to see them become victims of a foolhardy crusade." Kurt explained. Matt frowned slightly but felt less betrayed as he understood that he was actually being recommended as a safety net to this young man. More than likely these "friends" were people who didn't want to go along with the Registration Act. It wouldn't shock him if Kurt was one of those individuals himself. "I must get be going, the Professor is expecting me home soon." Kurt addressed Father Lantom. " _Guten Nacht_ , Father, Mr. Murdock. I hope we speak again soon." What happened next, Matt wasn't expecting at all.

There was a small noise that was a mixture of a puffing, zapping sound almost like a fuse fizzing out and an after smell of Sulphur along with a cloud of smoke and Kurt was _gone_.

"Well. I wasn't expecting that." Matt said after a moment of silence. Father Lantom chuckled.

"Some would say the same about you Matthew. Kurt is what people have termed a 'mutant'. It was a very large gamble for him to reveal himself to you. As you are well aware the Registration Act is coming into effect soon and it is unclear as to what the status of mutants will be under that act. Senator Kelly is pushing to include them in the required population who have to surrender their information but some of those born with these abilities have no desire to be used as soldiers as the Act intends. They just wish to be left in peace."

"I see." Matt said thoughtfully. "So you told Mister-"

"Wagner."

"Mr. Wagner, that I'd be able to help him? Father, I don't know if I can even help Sergeant Barnes let alone an entire population of men and women with extraordinary capabilities." Matt sighed heavily. "I don't even know if I'll be able to succeed in helping one man, I don't think I can be responsible for so many people." Father Lantom came over and sat beside Matt.

"I apologize Matthew, I never meant to imply that this was your responsibility. I merely brought you to his attention as one of many options that he could pursue since I knew you were already trying to help this Sergeant Barnes and I heard the comments that you made on the news. Kurt is one of many who are looking for an alternative to fighting in combatting this new law and I felt it would be prudent to point him in your direction seeing as not many are able to see past their prejudices in matters like these. Not like you are."

"I'm flattered you think so highly of me, but I don't intend to go down without fighting." Matt insisted. "I don't really see any other way this will end." Matt added on his rationale.

"Matthew, I've told you before that it wasn't hard for me to put together what you do with your nights and I will also say that I don't necessarily approve of your methods but I also won't say that I expect you to lay down and take this without fighting back in some way. This law, it is unjust. Kurt and his friends are just one example of how it can easily be abused to reign in tyranny over otherwise peaceful and innocent people. There are men and women who have no wish to fight who may be forced into a war they aren't called to take part in. Not to mention, there are hundreds of innocent people who will get caught in the crossfire just because they love their friends and family, those who are closest to these 'vigilantes' that the government says they are after. The many should not be made to suffer for the sins of the few. Mistakes have been made and now they are expecting the many to pay the price for it. No, I don't expect you to sit back and let this happen without a fight." Father Lantom explained to Matt his own thoughts behind the current conundrum.

"Then what are you trying to tell me Father?" Matt asked. The priest gave a small shrug in return.

"I am trying to remind you that there are many ways that one can wage battle. Some use weapons of force, others use weapons of the mind such as faith that justice will prevail, prayer for guidance and the strength to act according to it, and courage to combat what is wrong by standing firm in the belief that what they are doing is right. Not all wars need be fought on a battlefield. Sometimes the most effective blows can be dealt in the places you'd least expect, like, say, a court room. And some of the bravest warriors never need draw blood to be triumphant."

"Are you saying I should be a warrior?" Matt questioned disbelievingly. Father Lantom smiled sadly.

"I'm saying that is already how you see yourself and I am trying to guide you as best I can in your chosen role. Now Matthew, tell me, what is on your mind?" And so Matt explained the situation he found himself in as Father Lantom patiently listened.

By the end of the night Matt was even more resolute in his wish to fight back against the Registration Act as the words that Father Lantom spoke took root. There was so much on the line other than just his own problems. There were innocent bystanders who could be caught in the crossfire, people whose genetic codes could doom them to a future as an agent of the government without any choice in the matter. And when all of the super powered individuals were under control, what would there be to stop the government from going and meddling in the affairs of the ordinary individual just because they could or deemed them a "threat" for one reason or another. Power once given is hard to get back and who was to say once the government started exercising more and more of it against the super powered population that wouldn't leak into how it governed those who had no special abilities? How long until it was political enemies who were targeted for exercising new ideas or critiquing the party in power? Due process was already being corroded, how long until other rights followed?

He mulled over these things and realized that deep down he didn't really want this to escalate into war like Stark seemed more than willing to go to. He hoped that Father Lantom was right and he could win this in the battlefield of the courtroom and arena of the public opinion. But as he goose stepped around Hell's Kitchen that night, it seemed like there was little chance of that happening.


	6. I don't wear the mask for fun

"Frankly, I fail to see why this was even considered to be brought to trial. This is federal law now and I can't seem to understand why this case deserved to see the light of day." The judge who was to be looking over Bucky's case announced to the opposing legal teams gathered in his office. "But this stops right here. Mr. Murdock, Mr. Nelson, Sergeant Barnes is a wanted felon and terrorist. As such he will be remanded to S.H.I.E.L.D. custody and remain there as they see fit. Dismissed." With that due process was thrown out the window by someone who was sworn to protect it and Barnes' future looked exceedingly bleak.

* * *

Out in the hall Foggy exploded.  
"Are you kidding me?! This is still the United States of America right? People are still guaranteed the right to a trial of jury by their peers?"

"Apparently not." Matt seethed as well. Rogers was lurking in the background with Wilson, the two of them talking in harsh whispers as Sam tried to reel Cap back in.

"What are they saying?" Foggy asked quietly. "They're not going to do anything stupid, are they?"

"The Captain would like to. Mr. Wilson seems to be able to hold him back for now." Foggy sighed.

"What about you Matt? Are you going to do something stupid?" He asked quietly and Matt reared on his friend.

"What do you want me to do Foggy, sign up to be one of Stark's tin soldiers? What about our firm, do you think it could stand the resulting backlash in the breach of ethics? How about the fact that I've heard that Fisk is thinking about signing up in return for a shortened sentence, what do you think I should do about that? Grin and bear it while working with the man that we worked so hard to put away?" Matt hissed angrily and Foggy sighed softly again.

"Matt, that's not what I meant. Of course I don't think you should sign on with Stark. He's wrong about this. What I meant was are you going to go off half-cocked on a rescue mission before we have seen this all the way through?"

"Well gentlemen, I can't say I didn't warn you." This was the last person that anyone of them there wanted to hear from. Matt had been so involved in heated debate with Foggy that he had missed the arrogant swagger of the man that was making his life so much more complicated and difficult.

"Mr. Stark, we weren't expecting you to be here." Matt spoke up in response as Foggy simmered right next to his friend and Steve and Sam brought up the rear.

"Consider it a professional courtesy Mr. Murdock, Mr. Nelson. I thought that maybe this would be the wake-up call you needed. A moment of clarity if you will. You need to drop this for your own sakes. I've looked into you guys, the work you do is good. You help people, I don't want any more people getting caught in the crossfire, physically or metaphorically. People like you are who this measure is meant to protect from people like him." Tony said and Matt regretted the fact that he heard honest concern and empathy in his voice. It made it harder to fault Stark because even though he was adamantly opposed to what he was doing, he could _understand_ why he was doing it. Of course it was wrong, but on the flip side that is exactly what Stark felt about his actions as Daredevil. They were both stuck in an impossibly difficult situation. Stark had just been foolish enough to choose the wrong side.

"I'm sorry Mr. Stark, but is there a real reason why you're here or have you just come to gloat about the misfortune of our client?" Foggy questioned with a great amount of hostility. Stark looked at him sideways before starting to speak.

"Look, none of us are on opposite sides here. " He was addressing the four of them now.

"Sure doesn't look that way. Not with you out for our blood." Wilson huffed and Matt heard Stark's heart beat start to race in frustration and anger.

"Alright, you know what, listen up. I've done everything I can to make you all understand what I'm doing and why. If we're not held accountable, we're no better that the other guys we take down. And you Nelson, Murdock, are no better than the dirty firm you used to work for if you back a murderer and refuse to uphold the law. There are consequences to actions, and I don't care what your buddy with the red leather fetish has told you!" It was an unexpected explosion and there was a heavy silence following it.

"Thank you Mr. Stark for telling us why you are really here." Matt finally broke the tension. "You think we have some sort of relationship with the Devil of Hell's Kitchen. Tell me, what were you hoping to do with this information, blackmail us in hopes he'll play his hand and come to our rescue from what, the bad press you're threatening?" Stark pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Look, I apologize for my lack of decorum or whatever it is you sharks in suits call it but I'm trying to help you all grasp reality here. There's ten days left before this thing goes online and there's nothing stopping it now. No lawsuits, no paparazzi stunts, no heroic deeds for the underdogs. The feds have made it clear that we either get in line or get taken down. People don't want it to be the Wild West anymore, this is the next step in superhuman evolution. Making people feel safe again. So you tell me, does a bunch of guys running around in their underoos slugging it out in your neighborhood whenever they feel like it or an organized task team sent to take care of the situation neat and tidily make you feel better?"

"You're done Tony. Leave." Rogers cut him off and as he had four sets of unrelenting and angry eyes boring into him he took the hint finally and turned to go.

"I meant what I said Murdock, Nelson. Get out of this before it gets ugly, this isn't your place to be. And tell your buddy in the tights to get on board or find another type of work because there's no place for unaccountability any more. The people won't have it and neither will I."

"Daredevil worked with us once Mr. Stark, and that was because we were unknown and just starting out so there was less of a chance we'd been sucked into the corruption that riddles this town all the way up the ladder from the law firms all the way up to the federal officials who stop by like S.H.E.I.L.D. for instances, infested with Hydra agents. But, if you want to talk about what people want how about you talk to the people of Hell's Kitchen for a change and hear what they really say. Daredevil has done more for this city in cleaning up the mess you guys made when a Norse god set an alien army loose. You may not be the enemy here, but neither is he. So even if we did have some sort of way to reach him, which we don't, it would be to say thanks and nothing else." Foggy ranted slightly and Matt felt a rush of warmth overcome him. That was one of the only times that Foggy had actually gone out and defended Matt's acts as Daredevil, admitted that he approved of some of his night time activities. It was good to know that no matter what happened, his best friend would always be there to back him. Come what may, he still had Foggy and Karen.

Stark rolled his eyes and turned to leave.

"And Stark." Captain America called after Iron Man. He stopped only to listen and didn't turn to face him. "You'd better be telling the truth about wanting to keep people out of the crossfire. I won't tolerate targeting civilians in retribution for their associations assumed or otherwise with these heroes you're planning on hunting."

"I'm not the enemy here Cap. I thought Nelson already made that clear." And with that Tony Stark left, he felt slightly sick to his stomach at the thought that he might, in the near future, be assigned to hunting down and arresting one of the men he had come to consider a very close friend. This Registration Act had split them all right down the middle and it killed him. But not as much as ignoring the damage his actions had done would.

* * *

Back in the hallway there was another round of silence.

"Where do we go from here?" Sam finally asked.

" _We_ don't go anywhere from here. Mr. Murdock, Mr. Nelson thank you for your help but I think it's about time that we started handling this our own way now. Stark has made it clear he's out for blood and I'm not having you get caught up in this. This has nothing to do with you or your firm anymore."

"Yeah, sorry Cap. We don't give up that easy." Foggy shrugged and smiled slightly at the stern look he was getting from his childhood hero.

"You see, Sergeant Barnes was denied his day in court but Mr. Stark is forgetting one of the most powerful tools we have in our arsenals as a freelance firm. Civil suits." Matt's smile turned predatory and Sam actually felt a spike of unease shiver through his body at the look. Something told him that these two were not someone you wanted to mess with.

"At the very least we have him for slander as he associated us with the firm of Landman and Zach and his veiled threats could be worked to constitute assault if we play our cards right." Foggy ticked off.  
"On top of that, we can sue for the harassment of a war veteran with PTSD. Call it a class action suit. Heck, we could probably get him for creating Ultron if we wanted to really take a swipe at him."

"Isn't that why this whole mess started? Wouldn't that just prove his narrative of heroes needing to be leashed?" Rogers asked, not following Foggy's train of thought. Matt did.

"Not if we can prove that the masked vigilantes of this town did more to help it than the government sanctioned and led SHEILD and Avengers did. No offense Captain, Falcon." Matt apologized. "But if we can prove that this happened while under government control instead of outside of it, we might get people thinking twice about the effectiveness of this law." Sam actually smiled at that and Steve seemed to be feeling similar but he was still hesitant.

"It could work, or it could spectacularly backfire. This could make or break your firm with the way the public is asking for blood. Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Matt was. He turned to Foggy who had laid a hand on his shoulder in solidarity and nodded to his friend the acknowledgement that he got the message that gesture conveyed.

"We'd be delighted to continue working with you Captain."

* * *

When they headed back to Matt's place they were deep in conversation.  
"You think we stand a chance Matt?" Foggy asked. Matt considered it for a moment.

"I think that there's potential to send a message but win? I don't know. Stark's got everyone's ear now. It'll be hard to break that pattern—"He stopped talking and listened intently.

"What's wrong?" Foggy whispered as softly as he could.

"Someone's here." Matt responded and stepped protectively in front of his friend who made a small noise of protest which Matt shut off with a wave of his hand. Slowly opening the door he stepped in and Foggy crept along behind him, refusing to let Matt go into danger alone. It was both endearing and annoying to Matt in an extreme sense. Making his way to the living room he heard the floor creak and an individual who'd been lounging on his couch turn in his direction.

"You going to skulk around forever or come and talk like a grown-up?" There wasn't one, but two people here Matt realized.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Matt asked and tried to block Foggy from view even though he peered over his shoulder to get a better look at the intruders.

"I'm your best chance at being able to take on Stark Hornhead." Matt felt his jaw clench at the blatant and nonchalant announcement of his identity. "And your buddy doesn't need to hide behind you either. We're going to talk like big boys or not at all, I don't have time for amateur hour when I've got Stark's mess to clean."

"Gotta admit, I wouldn't have seen this one coming." The other figure hopped off of the couch where he'd been perched precariously. "One heck of a cover story you've got there." Matt knew this voice.

"Barton."

"That's me. You must be Matthew Michael Murdock. Good to meet you officially this time." Foggy gave a strangled squeak at the fact that Matt knew Hawkeye who, besides Captain America, was only Foggy's favorite Avenger _ever_.

"And since we're all being buddies, I'm Fury. You probably know me as the former director of SHEILD. Now let's talk business." And just like that Daredevil, Matthew Murdock, and Foggy Nelson all joined the resistance.


	7. Not the easy thing but the right thing

"Foggy, you need to calm down." Matt quietly hissed at his friend as they were walking into their office the next day. "Your heart is pounding like a drum."

"Well, excuse me for not being so calm and collected that a spy/superhero knows who you are on top of the former director of S.H.E.I.L.D. How are you so calm about this?"  
"Lots and lots of practice my friend." Hawkeye observed as he accompanied them into the office. "And don't let Red here convince you otherwise, he's just as nervous about us knowing as you are. He's right though, you should take it easy. Only Fury and I knew who you're pal was mascarading at night as. He was one of my special projects until S.H.E.I.L.D. got shut down thanks to your new client."

"Which turned out to be under the guidance and control of Nazi derivative terrorists." Matt added as they reached the front door. "So you understand our hesitance in trusting your security."

"I knew, Fury knew, and nobody else knew. You were one of the backups he was looking into in case one of us were killed in action."

"You make it sound like some sort of War Room strategy or something." Foggy noted with unease. Barton simply shrugged.

"Look around you and you'll see I'm not far off. We are at war, no matter what Steve and Tony like to pretend." They reached the office door now and heard some hushed voices on the other side. Karen was there along with Steve and Sam. "Well, here goes nothing." Clint took a deep breath and walked in. The others fell mute as they noticed who walked in the door.

"Um, Matt, Foggy? Something you forgot to tell us?" Karen questioned in a tone that said that she wanted answers and now or there would be trouble to pay.

"What are you doing here Agent Barton?" Steve asked cordially but with an underlying sense of unease, as though he was worried he'd be engaged in a fight here in Matt and Foggy's office in the middle of Hell's Kitchen. Clint held up his hands disarmingly.

"Believe it or not Cap, I'm on your side. Thought you guys could use the backing of a fellow Avenger." Steve looked dubious and Clint sighed. "You remember when we dealt with that whole Ultron fiasco? Remember my home with my wife and my kids? That all goes away if this law is put into effect. My family gets a big target on their backs since suddenly my personal life becomes public record. And besides, Stark is wrong. The only one who needs accountability here is him. He went half-cocked to make some sort of artificial intelligence without asking if maybe playing around with Asgardian tech wasn't a good idea. I knew that, he could've asked me. So yeah, I find his demands for transparency and cooperation a bit hypocritical and I want in on making sure that we stop this before it goes too far." Steve slowly nodded and everyone relaxed a bit.

"Alright." Sam started in. "So that makes a grand total of three of us 'special ability individuals' who are up against Stark on this thing. Four if you count Barnes, but I don't think he's gonna be able to do much public opinion wise right now. And the team here at Nelson and Murdock makes six of us. Six of us against S.H.E.I.L.D. , Iron Man, Congress, and the President himself. This isn't looking so good."

"Stark's got others backing his play too." Hawkeye broke in. "Natasha's said she'll play ball and I know that War Machine is in his camp. Same with the new guy, 'Vision'. And I've heard rumors that he's trying to recruit one of the street level guys." Steve raised an eyebrow.

"I'm assuming you don't mean the Devil of Hell's Kitchen." Foggy's heartrate spiked once again and Matt hoped that Captain Rogers' hearing wasn't as good as his own.

"I don't think he'd go for that. He seems pretty keen to be anonymous. And with an enemy like Wilson Fisk, I don't blame him." Karen shuddered slightly.

"No, not Daredevil. For some reason he's really got it out for that guy. No, the guy I'm talking about likes red but he likes blue a lot too. Stark's trying to reign in Spider-man."

"It's a good tactical move." Matt interjected finally into the conversation and they all turned to consider what he was saying. "Spider-man's been as secretive as Daredevil. If he were to unmask and show everyone that there was nothing to be afraid of, it could be a real blow to what we're trying to do here. If he proves that Stark is right, that heroes have no real reason to be afraid of showing their true faces then who are we to say any different? None of you guys have a secret identity. The closest that any of you do is Mr. Barton here and his hidden family home I believe he was talking about?" Matt was letting him know that he expected more details later. After all, he knew all about his secret of Daredevil. It was only fair the archer let Matt understand what they were talking about. "So if someone who's kept their secret so carefully guarded suddenly decides to let that out, it'll make people wonder what's the big issue and will be expecting others to follow suit. Like I said, good move tactically."

"Well, how do we convince them otherwise? Do you think we can get to Spidey before Stark does?" Foggy breathed deeply in exasperation and Matt knew that he had an idea of where Matt would be taking this.

"Well, I don't know if anything you guys said to him would be effective. He might need someone who's worked with him in the past to talk to him about it. Someone more down to his level than you all are. No offense, but Stark Tower looks like Olympus to us commoners. I think someone like Daredevil should take a shot at him." Matt plowed on anyway, ignoring the feeling of Foggy's glare on him.

"You know any way that we can contact him? Someone like that might be good to have on our side officially. Think we can get him to throw in with us?" Sam asked and Matt paused to think about what he should say.

"Well, as we told Mr. Stark already we have had dealings with him in the past. I think he'd be hesitant to officially join any task force or the like, even in opposition to the law. But I think we can count on some minor support from him at least. If nothing else, we could probably get him to try and convince Spider-man not to join the pro-registration army that they're trying to build."

"Good, I know a way to get ahold of him. I'll get the message to him and hopefully he'll be able to convince Spidey ASAP." Hawkeye told Captain America with a knowing grin and Steve simply gave him a curious glance before deciding that they should move on from discussion of superheroics to the matter at hand, the lawsuit they were constructing. After all, he had meant it when he said that Nelson and Murdock didn't need to be any more involved in this and he was trying to keep collateral damage to a minimum. Discussing strategy with civilians, no matter how trustworthy and intelligent they were was just bad policy. It put them in the center of something they didn't need to belong in. If Stark had a problem with autonomous heroes then he would have to take it out on them and them alone. Not the people who knew them, not their friends and families, not anyone else but the individuals themselves. He hoped Tony had been telling the truth when he said he wouldn't fight dirty.

* * *

Later that night they went back to Matt and Foggy went back to his apartment. Fury had basically told them that he would be able to be an informant. He knew the way in and out of S.H.E.I.L.D.'s systems and none of the upgrades that Tony Stark gave them would ever be clever enough to keep him out. Clint would be the barer of the intel to Captain Rogers, and what were Matt and Foggy's roles? Keep the public at least listening. Fury had made it clear that he could care less about Matt's night time activities right now and that he sought out the firm of Nelson and Murdock because he thought that they'd be the most capable of dealing some damage PR wise to Stark's campaign. Why he even wanted to help was a bit of a mystery but he had said something along the lines of wanting to prevent New York from going up in an explosion that could spread nationwide if this law restricted the work of good, hardworking, and necessary vigilantes and heroes all over the country. He recognized the need for people who dealt with all levels of issues from psychotic Norse gods to drug dealers that were able to operate in towns with dirty cops. So he would be their eyes and ears in S.H.E.I.L.D. and if worse came to worse even provide them with a base to operate out of, one that nobody but he knew the location of.

Foggy, while happy that they were making some progress in gaining allies was concerned when Matt started to put on his armor.

"Matt, are you sure this is a good idea? They said that Spidey was a pet project of Stark's he's gotta have lots of eyes on him now…"

"Foggy, I know what I'm doing." Matt tried to soothe his ever worried friend. "Spider-man and I have what you might call a friendly working relationship and I just want to talk to him, not fight him. He's reasonable, he'll listen." Foggy crossed his arms and scowled at Matt.

"How do you _know_ all these guys? Hawkeye, and Spider-man, and Captain America. Who's next, the X-Men?" It was rhetorical but Matt felt like yanking Foggy's chain a bit in retaliation for the mother henning he insisted on doing.

"I've only met one of them. We have the same priest. And to be fair, Captain America and the Falcon were _your_ doing." With that he slipped out the door leaving a sputtering Foggy behind him who eventually threw up his hands in exasperation and settled in on his best friend's couch. He'd taken to spending a lot of time around Matt's place recently and to be honest, Matt didn't mind. While Foggy thought it meant he could keep a closer eye on him it really just meant that he would be able to keep a closer watch on his friend. He honestly considered asking Karen if she wanted to come around for the same reason. But he wasn't sure how to word that question without a lot of other questions following suit and the backlash of Karen finding out his secret was not something he was ready to deal with right now. When things settled down he and Foggy had agreed they'd tell Karen. Not before, they couldn't afford to beforehand.

* * *

It was easy enough to find Spider-man out there amidst the chaos. Matt knew his usual routes and could isolate his heartbeat in a moment. So when he came to Peter sitting upon a roof looking out over the city he wasn't surprised that he jumped a bit as he was obviously in some deep thought that kept him from being totally present. He gently stepped onto the roof and padded his way over to the daydreaming young arachnid hero and waited for him to notice that he was there.

"Hey DD. How's it going?" Spider-man said after a moment. Matt crouched down next to him, is feet hanging off the edge of the roof they were meeting on.

"You looking for the truth or what you're wanting to hear?" Matt inquired and Spider-man gave a small grunt of bemusement.

"Suppose I was asking for something like that. Alright, here's a better question, why are you here? How can your friendly neighborhood Spider-man lend the big and bad Daredevil assistance?" Not being one to beat around the bush Matt decided to take the plunge.

"I want you to agree not to back Stark on this." Matt waited for the reaction he was sure to get. Probably scoffing and some sort of sarcastic remark about a lawyer asking him to break federal law. He was only greeted by a round of thick and tension filled silence.

"I don't know if I can do that Matt." Spider-man whispered quietly and Daredevil knew he was being deadly serious. After a couple of capers together, Matt had ended up brutally beaten and unconscious. Unsure of what else to do, Spiderman had had to remove his mask to make sure that the concussion wasn't severe and rummaged through his gear until he found his phone where Matt had forgotten to remove it before going on patrol. Claire had called, Spider-man had panicked and brought him back to her apartment for treatment. Upon realizing that Spider-man had seen his face the wall-crawler had decided that in order to be fair he'd have to show Matt his. Eventually after a few more team ups, they had decided to stop dancing around the issue and come clean about who they were out of costume with the mutual pact to never speak about it to another soul. It was something that Matt truly believed Spider-man would honor, if only for the sake of his own identity remaining secret.

"What's the alternative Peter, men like Fisk knowing where your family sleeps at night? Being a puppet of some higher ups who could care less about the people of Hell's Kitchen or areas like it?" Peter had had his own bad run-ins with the Kingpin and he understood Matt's fears better than probably anyone else.

"That's the way you might see it, but think about it. Everybody loves you, they say that Daredevil is just what Hell's Kitchen needs. Spider-man? He's an outlaw, a renegade that everybody likes to call a menace. Do you have any idea what that's like?" Matt didn't respond as Peter went on. "I want to think that what I'm doing as Spider-man gives people hope, not makes them fear for their lives. I think… I think Tony might be onto something." Daredevil shook his head slightly. "Look, you're going to do what you have to do, and I'm going to do what I've got to do. Tony's right you know, this isn't what people want anymore. We have to prove we're a part of the solution, not a symptom of the problem." He got up and prepared to head off. "I'm your friend Matt, I don't want things to get ugly. Just think about what he's said and ask yourself, is it really fair to say that we're above the law?" With that he leapt off the roof and swung away leaving a slightly discouraged Daredevil behind with a heavy sense of foreboding. At the very least he knew that despite their differing paths Spider-man wouldn't rat him out to anyone. It was a small comfort for the ensuring firestorm that was to come in the wake of his probable support of the Registration Act.  
Nelson and Murdock had a lot of work to do and Daredevil himself wasn't far behind. He didn't necessarily want to be in the center of the action as he'd already made clear to Captain America, but there was no way he was going along with this or fading into the background. He supposed it was time to start hunkering down and figuring out what his own role would be in the coming days. He doubted he'd be able to get away with staying out of the clash for too long.


	8. I'm trying to be civil about this

Matt was on his way back to his apartment when he got the call from Foggy.

"I'm on my way back now." Matt cut him off before he could inquire about when he'd be returning. So he was out a little late tonight following Spider-man's refusal to help. So what? Being out helped him clear his head.

"Okay, fine. But next time do you think you could warn me when we're going to have visitors?" Foggy had all but taken up residence in Matt's apartment. Karen had agreed to the idea, thinking that it would be helpful for the two to have each other to rely on just like they had in college. She still had no idea that it was more for Matt's comfort in keeping his best friend close amidst the insanity that was becoming professional lives both day and night. Not to mention the threats that the office was receiving in continuing with their line of litigation against Stark and you could chalk it all up to Matt being reasonably paranoid.

Stark had openly laughed at their civil suit, but a judge had agreed to hear it. Matt supposed it was for nothing other than to send a final message that this little "opposition" that was springing up among the more common people against Stark's agenda needed to stop. If they were utterly humiliated and destroyed in the court room, the two symbols of rebellion against the law in the general populace would also be shown to be nothing but foolish and ambitious lawyers grasping for a fool's dream. It was their funeral for being unwise enough to think that this obvious end goal would be enough to intimidate him and Foggy.

But when Matt got the call from Foggy that there were intruders in his apartment, he was well aware that Stick would scoff at his overtly emotional reaction. Matt practically flew back to his apartment all the while demanding answers out of Foggy about who was there and why. Foggy wasn't able to give Matt much information because every time he tried Matt cut him off with another question, most of them inquiring about whether he was alright.

"Matt, I'm telling you I'm fine. I just want you to warn me the next time a fuzzy blue guy is going to be dragged in here by a less blue but still fuzzy and rather grouchy man who has claws that jut out of his hands." That didn't sound friendly, nor did it make much sense. So when Matt bounded into his apartment he wasn't the least bit surprised when he came face to face with a few knife blades pressed against his throat by a rather hostile and strange man.

"Whoa, hey stop! That's Matt, you know, the guy your friend asked you to take him to?!" Matt heard Foggy yell at the man who was holding him at knife point. The knives slowly slid away from his throat and Matt heard a small and slightly disgusting noise as they slid themselves back into his skin. How was that possible?

"How was I supposed to know he wasn't one of Stark's errand boys?" The man growled at Foggy and Matt decided it was time he took control of the situation.

"Foggy, what's going on?" He demanded as he took note of the fact that his friend wasn't really all that frightened of the man who had just semi-attacked him. Which was odd to say the least. Apparently he wasn't quite the threat Matt thought he would be.

"Hey, you're the one who told me you knew the X-Men. How can you know the X-Men and not know Wolverine?" Foggy retorted from over in the living room where he was tending to somebody. Matt focused in on the heartbeat of the man currently sprawled out (and slightly bleeding) on his couch. He smelled a slight whiff of Sulphur mixing in with the disinfectants that Foggy was using on the injured man's wounds.

"I told you I knew _one_ of them and we've only officially met once." He turned to face the newly announced Wolverine. "Wolverine was it? What exactly are you doing here?" Wolverine had slammed the door and locked it after Matt had started to talk to Foggy with some rather loud and anger filled movements. Matt could practically feel the rage radiating off of the lethal man in front of him.

"The Elf said that we could trust you and I learned a long time ago that I should trust _him_."

"He's hurt pretty bad Matt. Some pro-regs got him and they took out their anger on the poor guy. He's a wreck. If it wasn't for Wolverine, I really think they would've tried burning him at the stake or lynching him or something. This is spiraling out of control fast." Foggy informed Matt softly as he made his way over to the couch. Matt recognized the injured man to be the friendly and mischievous young mutant that he had met in the church the other night when he went to see Father Lantom. Foggy was right, Kurt Wagner was a wreck. He had at least two broken bones that Matt could hear grinding together painfully and the smell of Sulphur that lingered on him was overwhelmed by the smell of copper that came from blood, mixing into a disgusting and horrific odor of pain and torment. Matt winced in sympathy as he nodded his head to Foggy.

"Didn't really have any other choice but to come here." Wolverine scowled slightly. "You're pal's right, they did a real number on him. He needed help fast, and there's not really many folks around willing to help a mutant these days. Lucky for him, he just happened to know one crazy guy who is."

"And you just decided to open the door when he came to it with no questions asked?" Matt turned to Foggy who scowled in annoyance.

"Matt, I did know what I was doing. He's Wolverine for Pete's sake! He's a good guy and even if you haven't been paying the best attention to the news, I've seen how mutants have been treated in the light of the new law. It's turned into open season on people who are doing nothing else but trying to live their lives. So when one of the good guy shows up bleeding to one of the only doors where they are likely to get help, yeah I opened it. I'm not an idiot Matt, I won't take unnecessary risks." With that he finished bandaging Kurt and stepped back, gently applying an ice pack to bring down the swelling on his wrist. "They called him a demon Matt. They called him a demon and a child murderer and all sorts of nasty, untrue things because they're thirsty for blood and they think that they can get away with it. So no, I didn't turn him away. Would you have done anything different?" Matt sighed heavily but shook his head and acquiesced to his friend's actions.

"We won't be here long, our ride is coming and then we'll be outta your hair if we're such a problem. But I just wanted to let you know that he specifically said that you were one of the only people we could trust. He doesn't say things like that without meaning them. But maybe he was wrong. Maybe your friend here is really the one to count on if you're too much of a coward to prove Kurt right." Wolverine was furious at the treatment of his friend by the public in general and now the seeming rejection from a man that Kurt had insisted they could trust. "Either way, don't worry about your hide. We'll be gone soon."

"I don't think it's that Wolvy." A voice called over from the window and Matt gave a small groan of frustration. Since when had his home become Avenger's HQ?

"Barton." Wolverine was about as thrilled to see Clint as Matt had been the first night he had been there.

"I'd ask how you've been but I think your friend there answers that question."

"What're you here for?" Wolverine wanted to get where Hawkeye fell in the spectrum before a potential enemy could give away their position. Clint had climbed in and held his hands up in a surrendering gesture.

"No need to get jump the gun and get stabby Logan. I'm on protection detail per my assignment by Captain Steve Rogers." At the name Wolverine tensed slightly, unsheathing his claws in preparation for a fight.

"Prove it bird boy."

"Uh, Mr. Wolverine? I can vouch for him." Foggy raised his hand like a high schooler and Matt tried very, very hard not to groan aloud. Clint snickered and Foggy blushed at the raised eyebrow Wolverine turned in his direction.

"Well, what do you want me to call you?" He threw his hands up in exasperation and embarrassment when he realized that he looked a tad bit foolish. Good guy or not, Wolverine was intimidating and Foggy had decided that a polite address might go over better with him than a familiar and lax one. Choosing to ignore the question and the "Mr. Wolverine" and instead decided to take Foggy at his word figuring he owed him for his medicinal care to Nightcrawler.

"Who're you babysitting?" Logan asked with a slight note of disdain and Clint inclined his head towards the two lawyers.

"He gestured in our direction Matt." Foggy filled in, playing the role that he expected Wolverine and Nightcrawler would expect Matt to have without the knowledge of his enhanced senses. Matt in the meantime struggled to try and bury the sense of annoyance flaring at the wound to his ego. Captain America thought they needed _babysitting_?

"Oh yes Counselor, the good Captain saw the mail that was delivered to your firm. I think there was something like six different death threats this last round right? One of which made him nearly hunt down the guy who wrote it. Something about the sexist remarks made about Karen, threats of assault made to Nelson, and the ableist language used to describe you really set him off." Wolverine scoffed slightly.

"Yup, he's the choir boy I remember alright." After feeling a glare from Foggy he shrugged in surrender. "Not that the guy wouldn't 've deserved what was comin' to him, he's just got a hero complex, feeling the need to right every wrong he sees including some idiot's ramblings. He takes every injustice personally. Must get exhausting after a while running around and cleaning up after everybody's mess."

"As if you would do any different my friend." Nightcrawler had come out of his slumbering at the conversation and had been quietly listening in. "I seem to recall you attempting to carve out one of my assailant's tongues." Logan showed no sign of regret at his actions either.

"I never said he was wrong to do what he was doing." Wolverine countered. Hawkeye sent him an impressed and appreciative glance.

"Speaking of assailants, how are you feeling Mr. Wagner?" Foggy asked, using the tone he used when speaking with their favorite clients. It was pleasant and lilting and smooth and Matt usually felt a sense of relaxation in hearing it. One of the things Matt most appreciated about his friend was that while Matt knew how to settle things with blood and fists, his friend was just as good at using his words to do similar work. Different strengths but each as necessary in the pursuit of justice that they both shared.

"I have been better, _Herr_ Nelson. But I am alive and on the mend, thanks to your quick intervention if I am correct in my understanding."

"You were right about the place, wrong about Murdock Elf. You shoulda told me to go to Nelson in the first place." Logan sent an unfriendly look Matt's way. Matt went to protest that he hadn't wanted to throw either man out nor turn them away, he had only wanted to make sure that if there was a danger present Foggy was taken care of before he proceeded. Nightcrawler took care of that for him.

"Enough Logan. We needed a safe have and Mr. Murdock was generous enough to provide one for us while we wait for Emma to come and collect us. That is all we needed." He turned to both Foggy and Matt. "Thank you for your help. If ever we can return the favor, do not hesitate to ask." Nightcrawler nodded to Wolverine who extended a hand his way and hauled him up.

"You guys headed out?" Clint questioned. Kurt gave him an affirmative nod.

"Emma is here and I do not wish to bring trouble to my friends' homes."

"Be careful out there, okay?" Foggy added as they made their way to the door. Wolverine raised an eyebrow at the concern and then shrugged.

"You too Nelson. Tell the choir boy hello for me." And they stepped out of the door and made their way down towards the back door where their friends were waiting for them.

"This is insane." Foggy breathed after they had been gone for a solid five minutes.

"I told you—"Matt started to once again tell Foggy that he had already mentioned he knew an X-Man.

"Not that Matt. Just… I know you see things in your own way but right now, and I can't believe I'm saying this aloud, but I'm glad you weren't able to see what they did to him. He looked like he'd been ravaged by a stampede of animals Matt. That's what people are turning into, animals. There are sickos who know that nobody's going to stop them from doing things like this and their taking advantage of it. Some of them are being government sanctioned! It's disgusting!"

"And that's why Cap sent me around to look after you guys." Clint inserted himself into the conversation. "After that stunt Spider-man pulled, you're right. Things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get better. I know what you can do Murdock but when you're not in your tights, I'm sticking to you. Fury agreed. He said we need you more than we need your alter ego right now. You're not helpless but that doesn't mean you couldn't do with a friend or two looking out for you." Foggy mumbled under his breath about that being his job and Clint just sent him a cheeky grin in response. "Same goes for you Nelson. You're just as needed. Though I think Wolverine wouldn't mind taking a few swings at the creeps who sent those letters to you if you asked him to. And don't worry, Cap and Sam are looking out for Miss Page. I just thought that since I was aware of your 'unique situation' you'd want me to be the one who took up the role of bodyguard." Matt hated to admit it, but he was right.

"Fine." Matt growled and Foggy stared wide eyed at his friend's admission of defeat.

"Great. Just one thing left to settle, who gets the sofa and who gets the air mattress?"


	9. A good man caught up in a bad situation

"Matt, I think we may be going about this in the wrong way." Foggy brought up one day as they were debating legal strategies for the case against Stark. So far things were going pathetically slow and they had just settled on a jury that wasn't deeply tainted in favoritism for either side of the argument. Opening marks were tomorrow, and they were going to have to meet with the judge before-hand if this was going to be allowed. They were having trouble nailing down what charges would be best to nail Stark with and Foggy, after deep contemplation and tons of research, finally had an idea. An overly simple, possibly crazy enough to work idea.

"What do you mean?" Matt asked, knowing that this was the tone of voice Foggy used when he came up with some of their best plans of attack.

"We're doing it wrong. We're going after Stark right?" Foggy continued, trying to lead Matt down his path of thinking.

"You mean the guy who all but openly has announced a personal vendetta against us and our supposed 'pal' Daredevil? Yeah, we're going back at him in the only way we know how. We're throwing the book at him because apparently he thinks he's untouchable." Matt agreed slowly, trying to see where his friend was going. Foggy shook his head but smiled triumphantly.

"See, that's the problem! We're making Tony Stark the enemy. We're going after Iron Man, when really, is it Iron Man we have a problem with? Or is he just a symptom of the problem?"

"Alright, you've lost me." Matt finally gave up on trying to understand where his law partner was going. He could tell Foggy was giving him a look that suggested he thought Matt knew exactly where he was going but refused to see it.

"It's the chicken and the egg Matt. Tony Stark made Ultron, but Ultron was made because the government has been woefully unable to protect the people who've put their faith in it, and when they try to do something about it they're shut down! Don't you see? The Avengers, vigilantes, heroes, whatever you want to call them, they're the scape goats for the failures of the powers at be. We've just gotta show the jury that they're placing the responsibility on the wrong shoulders. We prove that they're necessary, and that Big Brother isn't always looking out for everyone's best interests, then we have a shot at winning the public."

"So we start by masquerading as suing Stark for willful negligence, and in doing so actually build a case as to why his actions were warranted? Commit suicide in our own case?" Matt didn't like the sound of this one bit.

"We may lose the battle Matty, but think about the war? You really want to strike a blow at Tony Stark or do you want to show the world why need to and have earned the right to run around at night in your red leather in privacy?" Foggy shot back, determined that this was the best route. Matt sighed heavily. Not because what Foggy was saying was nonsense, but because it was actually the best move tactically they could make. And later, as they discussed it with Fury and Barton, they agreed.

Even so, Matt wasn't entirely ready to let Stark off the hook like that. He insisted that they at least start off by making it look like they were holding him accountable and showing the hypocrisy of his actions. At the very least, the smug billionaire deserved to be knocked down a few pegs and face reality in Matt's opinion. Fury and Barton agreed with that too, even if Foggy didn't. Matt wasn't sure where his friend's heart of gold ended, but it didn't matter. In the end, everyone would win and it would be the Act that was made to look foolish. That was the plan anyway.

In the meantime, Daredevil still had work to do. In the aftermath of the new law the streets were getting worse as creeps felt empowered to go out there and cause trouble since, supposedly, only the regular cops would be handling petty crimes. They were sure the Devil would be nothing but a bad memory, a boogey man who was told around campfires and laughed at by punk kids. Too bad for them that just because the Devil wasn't willing to march to the tune of the piper it didn't mean he wouldn't be dispensing his particular brand of justice.

That's how Matt found himself in the middle of a gang of morons who decided that they would be able to get away with what they wanted in _his_ city.

* * *

The girl they were chasing wasn't any older than sixteen years old. Young, terrified, and probably took a wrong turn down an alley. The heels she wore clacked loudly against the cement and the jangling of her jewelry and the scent of her dreadfully expensive and obnoxious perfume made it obvious that she came from money. She might as well have been walking around with a target on her back. These people knew how to spot a good mark, and she was prime pickings.

When Daredevil heard her shriek of fear and plea for help, he didn't ignore it and leave it for the police. The nearest officer was at least three minutes out and a lot could happen to a person in three minutes when they were being attacked by five men twice their height and weight. So, throwing all reserve and caution to the wind, the Devil descended to dole out the appropriate punishment.

The leader of the band of thugs was about to start in on the terrified girl, whose pleading Matt tried to not let him remind of the terrified Karen when they'd first met and how easily this could be Karen if the lowlifes out there got to know who he was behind the mask; before the man could even touch her Daredevil had caught his arm that was reeling back for a hard blow and twisted his arm behind his back.

" _Go_." He warned the unfortunate teenager in a low voice. Not even bothering to try to argue she bolted and the men were all too dumbfounded to go after her because they were wrong. Nothing would stop Daredevil from collecting his due, not even federal law or the threat of being hunted down and chased like an animal by maniacs he helped put away. And something about that was terrifying.

The man who Daredevil was currently holding prisoner finally got a hold of his senses and was able to wrench free as Matt himself was a bit busy trying to formulate his next move against the four other armed brutes. One of them was big enough to give Fisk a run for his money.

"Well boys looky what we've got here, it's the Daredevil himself!" Crowed the leader, a man who was greasy and large and had long hair that scratched against his shoulders. He rubbed his sore arm ruefully. "Thought you would've crawled away into the sewers with the others when the going got tough. You wanna know something Devil?" He sneered as they started advancing on him. "You ain't got the power to scare us anymore. How's this for a story boys? Us good, law abiding citizens were on our way home when we heard a poor little girl screaming for help. Looked down the alley and there was some lunatic in a mask trying to have his way with her. Naturally, he fought back when we let the girl get away and we had to defend ourselves against the dangerous domestic terrorist. How's that for a story?" Matt could smell the rank breath of him and his men as they chuckled at their perceived cleverness. Daredevil wasn't impressed or amused.

"I'd say that's about all it is, a story." A very familiar voice interjected and Daredevil tried hard not to groan at who it was that was intervening. It was embarrassing enough that he thought Matt Murdock needed babysitting, but apparently Captain America thought that the Devil of Hell's Kitchen needed to be coddled as well in the light of the new law.

"Oh y-yeah, Pretty Boy?" The leader tried to use false bravado when facing Captain America and show he wasn't intimidated when it was actually quite obvious that he was. Two of the five men bolted from the alley and Steve simply launched his shield after them. The fell to the floor out cold. The other two tried to rush Steve who delivered a swift kick to one and a hard blow to the stomach to the other. The leader wasn't having it and tried the coward's way out. Drawing a gun he pointed it right in Daredevil's direction.  
"Stop you freaking cape, or I'll kill this son of a—"Daredevil didn't let him finish. He swept his feet out from under him and landed him flat on his back. His gun clattered to the side as Matt dug his foot into his wrist, applying pressure until he released his grip on the weapon.

"Is it just me, or do all lowlifes seem to have filthy mouths?" Steve mused as he crouched down next to the man who was trying to sputter curses at the pair of them. "Language." Captain America clucked before delivering a solid hit to the face. The man was down for the count.  
"I had this." Daredevil growled as Steve stood back up to face his colleague.

"Daredevil I presume?" Cap extended his hand towards the vigilante who refused to shake it, only reiterating his early statement with a pointed look of disapproval marring his face.

"Who else could be so grumpy?" A third man joined the conversation and Matt did at least huff this time.

"Barton, you're like a bad penny." He chastised, turning in Clint's direction as he joined the two heroes in the alley way and started to zip tie the thugs' limbs together.

"And you need to learn to show some gratitude. You were outnumbered here, Cap did you a favor. A 'thank you for saving my sorry leather clad butt' seems in order."

"I don't need rescuing or protection, or you bringing your war into my city. I think it's had enough Avenger intervention." Matt was more than willing to go to bat for these men in the court room and fight against Stark by refusing to agree to the Registration Act. He wasn't willing to have the unregistered hero population traipse around Hell's Kitchen and draw all sorts of conflict to it. Daredevil alone wouldn't be enough to bring too much heavy-hitters out to play, but Captain America and Hawkeye? If word got out they were working the streets it would be the Battle of New York all over again and that was the last thing that Hell's Kitchen could afford right now.

"I think you can be more of a team player than you're willing to let on." Hawkeye continued, unperturbed.

"Clint, enough." Steve stopped his constant needling of Matt to get a rise out of him. Cap turned to Daredevil. "Look, I understand why you don't want us here and believe me, causing you or your city more trouble is the farthest thing from my mind. I came for two reasons, one to warn you and two to ask a favor."

"Warn me about what?" Daredevil demanded. Clint and Steve's heartrate had started to increase a bit in unease.

"Tony's cut a deal with one of your old pals, the King Pin." Barton moved in with the subtlety of a bull in China shop, as was his usual manner of dealing with these types of things. "You're his pet project, the symbol of everything the Registration Act is against and you've got the sympathy of the people of Hell's Kitchen. You're a danger to the image he's trying to create and he thinks that Wilson Fisk is the best shot he has at anticipating your moves. He's going to try to use that to his advantage." The anger Matt had felt towards Tony Stark's audacity and stupidity had now boiled to a rage.  
"That _moron_!" Daredevil hissed angrily, his fury plainly written across his face. "He has no idea what he could be unleashing on this city—"

"Stark wouldn't be doing this if he didn't think he had a good reason. He's misguided, yes, but he's not out to tear apart Hell's Kitchen. He'll have some way of keeping him in check." Captain America interjected. Daredevil laughed without humor and it was a jarring, dark, echoing sound.

"None of you know Fisk and what he's capable of. Stark may as well have signed a death warrant for Hell's Kitchen. But what would he care, it's just the slums down here right? He spends all his time in his ivory tower with his body guards and his toys and his promises while the rest of us have to choose whether we're going to sign away our autonomy and the safety of the people we know, or become outlaws, criminals to the very people we're trying to protect. He either doesn't understand, or doesn't care. So forgive me Captain, if I don't have faith in his abilities to keep that mad man leashed." Daredevil started to walk away with an increasing urgency in his gait because if Barton was here that meant that Foggy was alone back at Matt's place and Fisk was out there with just as much a vendetta against the firm of Nelson and Murdock as he had against Daredevil.

"I still have a favor I need to ask you." Captain America stopped him from getting away just yet.

"What more is it you want from me?" Daredevil asked tiredly. Their mess had already taken a lot from him. He didn't really have anything against the two Avengers who were currently occupying the same space he was, but their gallivanting, while necessary, was partially the reason that he was in this situation it the first place.

"There's a couple of lawyers who are going to bat for us, the trial starts tomorrow on the day the Registration Act becomes law. Franklin Nelson and Matthew Murdock. They're good men and they've told me they've had dealings with you in the past. Would you keep an eye out for them and for anyone who might want to get in the way of what they're doing? Nelson and Murdock don't deserve to get caught in the line of fire if things go downhill for us all." That was surprising to say the least, that wasn't the favor Matt had been expecting.

"I thought that Barton was already doing that." Yes, there was an underlying accusation in his tone questioning why Clint was here instead of with Foggy. Barton ignored it.

"It couldn't hurt to have you keep on the lookout. You know the streets better, you know the way the people of this city think and move, good and bad alike. You've got an insiders perspective that could be indispensable in keeping them out of the crossfire." Steve reasoned and Matt couldn't fault him.

"You're not going to ask me to join your little resistance?" Daredevil heard Captain America's sharp intake of breath at the blatant statement that he knew they were drawing up battle plans and allies in order to combat Stark's team, minions, and the government out to get them in general. "You're a soldier Captain, I'd have expected you'd get together an army to continue the good fight." Matt tried to ease Steve's suspicions.

"I don't expect you to run head first into anything simply because I ask you to. But if the time comes and there's a battle that we're forced into fighting, no matter how much we don't want it, I would like to think I could count on you to take up arms without my needing to ask." Steve shrugged honestly. Daredevil nodded his acquiescence.

"We'll see if that time comes." He then took off, running up the walls and across the rooftops back to his apartment where he knew he could keep a closer eye than ever on things.

Now that he knew Fisk was involved, he'd have to be extra vigilant. And besides, tomorrow was their big day in court with opening statements. He'd need to back Foggy as much as possible on this.

However, as the clock struck midnight and he was officially an outlaw for wearing the armor he used to fight against the injustice and evil that still plagued the streets of Hell's Kitchen, Daredevil couldn't help but feel a trill of insecurity and apprehension about his and Matt Murdock's futures make its way down his spine and settle deep in his bones.

It was not a pleasant feeling.


End file.
